At the start of the year, Fotolia launched its third season of the TEN Collection: a creative, educational digital art project bringing together pairs of world-famous artists (a photographer and a graphic designer) to collaborate on an artistic creation. This season will close in November with a collaboration from two Far-Eastern artists
Just like the four pairs of artists before them, the final duo – South Korean photographer Mi-Kyung Kim and Japanese concept artist Kenichiro Tomiyasu from INEI Studio – created a piece revealing their vision of the future. For this third TEN season, the team dreamt up an earthly paradise: the "The Future Shangri-La". This oasis of tranquillity sees nature and energy fused together in perfect harmony.

"The Future Shangri-La" was inspired by a dream of utopia from a Far-Eastern perspective, which mirrors western representations of the Garden of Eden. "It is our hope for the future; it is what we are searching for: a world where nature takes back its rightful place and rights, and produces glowing fruit that elicits longevity, prosperity and vitality – celestial gifts in a world without care. This world is free from all of society's problems, just like the place of ancient Asian legend. Who knows, perhaps we will be able to find our own Shangri-La in the future," explain the two artists.

To create this unique and original piece, they chose to blend their cultures, techniques, styles and tastes. The 'nature' element came from Mi-Kyung Kim, who had grown up on the green and luscious island of Jeju, while the 'supernatural' was INEI Studio's contribution, stemming from his interest in science fiction and video games, an integral part of Japanese culture.
These two opposing worlds are perfectly integrated in "The Future Shangri-La", where springs glowing with supernatural light are pictured alongside the nocturnal tranquillity of nature beneath a starry sky

On 10 November the “The Future Shangri-La” PSD file, including all the layers, filters, settings and resources the artists used, Mi-Kyung Kim’s photographs and Fotolia’s images, can be downloaded for free from www.tenbyfotolia.com. The photograph used to create the work, as well as ten other pictures from the shoot, will be on sale on Fotolia's website: www.fotolia.fr

To download all the files, including an HD image of the piece “The Future Shangri-La”, shots of the artists at work, interviews and references for the Fotolia photographs used in the work, click HERE.